
002 849 298 4, 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



SF 808 
.C8 
Copy 1 



Lonncchcul Slalc f3oard of Vlqricull 



UPC. 



SPECIAL REPORT 



COMMISSIONERS 



Diseases of Domesticated Animals. 



TUBERCULOSIS. 

The discoveries of modern science, both in medical and 
veterinary studies, have such an important bearing upon 
public health, that the well-established facts in regard to 
this disease, commonly called consumption, should be as 
widely disseminated as possible. 

The facts are well settled that tuberculosis is not only 
a communicable disease, that it occurs in many animals, 
especially the human and bovine races, and is intercom- 
municabie between them. While this last point hardly 
admits of positive proof, it is generally accepted by pathol- 
ogists. 

In its common and acknowledged form as affecting' the 
lungs (pulmonary consumption), it is a leading cause of 
death in the human family ; add to this its more secret ami 
abstruse forms as affecting other organs, it is one of the 
worst scourges affecting humanity. 

As a communicable disease it must also be viewed largely 

as a preventable disease. Aside from our common interest in 

Mibject in behalf of humanity, the existence of this 






i« 



disease among our domestic animals, especially neat stock, 
where it may have been derived from man, propagated in 
the herds, and again in a mysterious manner spreading the 
seeds of disease and death in the human family, — appeals 
directly to farmers as a class. 

It has long been admitted to be hereditary, but now it 
appears more often to arise from cohabitation (dwelling 
together) than from heredity ; while it is supposed to 
affect all classes of animals, yet its manifestations are so 
different in some species that its general prevalence in differ- 
ent species has not been admitted by pathologists till recently, 
and some still hold the question in doubt. But we know 
enough as to the nature of this disease that cannot be con- 
troverted, to enable us to alleviate much suffering, and save 
many lives, even with our imperfect knowledge. 

This paper will treat only of its existence among neat 
stock and the consequent relations to human health. It will 
be brief, not because the subject is trivial, but as not designed 
for a comprehensive treatise, but to give only leading facts, 
sufficient to show clearly the nature of the disease and the 
obvious means of averting its serious consequences. 

Tuberculosis, affecting the lungs, the most common and 
communicable form, is indicated by a cough, difficult respira- 
tion, and general weakness and wasting away or emaciation. 
The persistence of these symptoms proves that it is not a 
common cold. The animal should be quarantined ; if a milch 
cow, the milk rejected ; and if there is no speedy recovery, a 
veterinarian should be consulted or the beast slaughtered 
as valueless and dangerous. 

The time is coming when some strict sanitary rules will 
be adopted in all cases of human tuberculosis. The necessity 
for this is generally admitted, but rarely enforced. Travel- 
ing in public conveyances thus has its dangers, especially so- 
called health resorts, which are liable to become rather hot- 
beds of disease. 

The time has already come for the stock owner to 
exercise watchful care over the health of his herds. The 



• 6 I- 
D. ot 0. 



<d 



soundness of all purchased animals should be carefully in- 
vestigated, as well as their antecedents. A consumptive 
patient should never have charge of cattle. The dried sputa, 
floating in the air as dust or falling upon the fodder proves a 
fertile source of spreading- the disease. The attendant may 
contract the disease from cattle or give if to them. 

id, overheated stables, with imperfect ventilation, 
or any causes by which the tone of the system is reduced, de- 
stroy the power to resist the disease and favor its development. 

It is not proved that animals contract the disease from the 
breath of the sick, but rather by eating the rejected food upon 
which the saliva or sputa may have fallen, or by inhaling 
the dried sputa floating in the air. 

A healthy animal should never be allowed to eat the 
rejected food from animals suspected of tuberculosis, or be 
kept in the same barn or field. Too many well-attested 
cases of fatal tuberculosis sustain this proposition. 

There is a great difference in susceptibility to this disease 
in animals as in the human subject. Evidence is rare, show- 
ing that an entire herd, even in the worst sanitary conditions, 
have contracted the disease, yet from ten to fifty per cent, 
has been reported in some cases. 

The flesh of tuberculous animals is dangerous as food; 
hence, no use in trying to fatten them for beef. 

As the disease is hereditary, a suspected animal should 
never be used as a breeder. A tuberculous animal has little 
strength for work, and will not pay for the keeping. 

In milch cows, in addition to the common danger of 
contagion, the milk is unsafe for food even for swine or 
poultry, and it only remains for the owner of a tuberculous 
subject to meet the loss promptly and slaughter the animal 
before others contract the disei 

In one notable case under our own observation, before the 
characteristics of the disease were as well known as at 
present, in a herd of ten animals, for a period of half a dozen 
years, one died or was killed as valueless each year : before 
that, by a system of quarantine and slaughter, the plague was 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 849 298 4 



I 



stayed. The owner afterwards said: " The slaughter of the 
whqle herd at first attack would have been a pecuniary 
gain." 

While all would avoid tuberculous beef as food, yet we 
may recollect that thorough cooking destroys its dangerous 
properties, and boiling has the same effect on milk, destroys 
the germs of disease. 

We do not wish to appear as alarmists, and create any 
unnecessary excitement among farmers or consumers of any 
products, yet we deem it prudent to exercise caution and be on 
the safe side, where also lies true economy, and would advise 
that all animals that are thriftless and show the symptoms of 
tuberculosis be destroyed, though the disease may not have 
progressed to the degree of rendering the animal apparently 
worthless. 

From its very nature, the prevention of the spread of 
tuberculosis, and the eradication of the existing cases, 
depend upon the cattle owners themselves, and on them 
rests the responsibility, which is grave indeed, as so vitally 
affecting the welfare of both man and beast. Therefore, this 
commission do not consider that the State should exercise 
the same authority over tuberculosis as in case of contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia, and slaughter infected or suspected 
animals at public expense. Yet the commissioners consider 
it their duty to investigate all cases of suspected contagious 
disease, to control the same, as far as possible, by advice and 
authority, for the preservation of the public health, as well as 
the material interests of agriculture, and in accordance with 
these views issue this notice of warning and advice. 



E. H. Hyde, 
T. S. Gold, 
J. W. Alsop, 



Commissioners on 

Diseases of Domes- 

ticated Animals. 



Hartford, June 10, 1890. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 849 298 4 1 



Hollinger Corp. 



